Having studied the Middle East professionally for 35 years, written or edited more than 40 books on the region, and having a PhD in Middle East history, let me make it perfectly clear: Glenn Beck, who is holding several rallies in Israel this week, has a better grasp of Middle East politics than most Western experts, not to mention Western leaders.
Via Kathy Shaidle
CBC’s 75th anniversary slogan is “Yours to celebrate.” Plenty of celebrations are being scheduled for the anniversary, all of them designed to encourage audiences to express what the CBC means to them.
In that spirit, we’re asking you to help get the ball rolling in anticipation of the anniversary festivities. We’d like to hear what the CBC means to you, by asking you to complete the following sentence: My CBC is…
Heh.
Update: A CBC comments thread goes horribly wrong….
h/t Rich
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz urged other CEOs to stop donating to U.S. political campaigns to encourage leaders to solve the nation’s growing budget deficit.
“I am asking that all of us forego political contributions until the Congress and the President return to Washington and deliver a fiscally disciplined long-term debt and deficit plan to the American people,” Schultz wrote in an e-mail sent to business leaders that was obtained by Bloomberg News.
How did it come to pass that this simply stated fact became a topic of debate?
Texas Governor Rick Perry could teach the Harper crew a thing or two about communications strategy…
h/t Ed S.
Mark Steyn will be on Ezra’s show on Sun TV later today to discuss his new book, After America.
If you enjoyed Mark’s last apocalyptic blockbuster, you’ll appreciate this one even more. From budgets to the border, diversity to disease, manufacturing to manhood, Steyn looks at the American undreaming, and provides a glimpse of the post-American world. There’s laughs along the way, and a few suggestions as to how total civilizational collapse might be avoided.
A vote for Canada’s Best Political Book of the Past 25 Years goes horribly wrong.
Well, done SDA Nation. Well done.
National Post has more.
Horst Mahler was a leader of the German radical left in the 1960s and ’70s. Now he’s a member of the radical right, sitting in jail for denying the Holocaust. But he’s reportedly verified reports that he informed for Communist spies in the ’60s.
That would be the “right” as in neo-national socialist party “right”.
Update: More from Ed Driscoll
h/t Maz2
Without getting bogged down in labour law minutiae, this gifts huge resources to public sector unions to support the NDP and promote policies that expand/protect the unionized government workforce even if the dues-paying member objects. Hence the CUPE billboard campaigns for higher taxes in Saskatchewan and the smear campaign against Manitoba Hydro privatization. The constant demonization of privatization, contracting out, and more diverse education and healthcare systems involving private alternatives is funded by this mother lode of resources extracted from mandatory union dues. Workers are not protected from having their money allocated to parties or causes they oppose.
This forced funding of political causes will likely come to an end beginning later this year. Here’s why.
Turn the “progressive” tax system upside down and we will see economic growth at a rate unprecedented in modern human history. Discuss.
(Via)
Rupert Murdoch attacked at Parliamentary hearing. I blame Sarah Palin.
Lawrence Solomon – The Bachmann approach: Stop the borrowing, pay the interest on the existing debt to avoid a default, and then prioritize spending for the balance of the budget, starting with Social Security, medical, and military expenses.
#askObama
h/t AtlanticJim
The unmatchable Thomas Sowell;
In the course of any given year, Congress votes on taxes, medical care, military spending, foreign aid, agriculture, labor, international trade, airlines, housing, insurance, courts, natural resources, and much more.
There are professionals who have spent their entire adult lives specializing in just one of these fields. The idea that Congress can be competent in all these areas simultaneously is staggering.
In related government enacted stupidity;
Loose Lips Akerson — a telecom exec who is the latest CEO to come through GM’s revolving executive-suite door — let fly that he would like to see the “federal gas tax boosted as much as $1 a gallon to nudge consumers toward more fuel-efficient cars.” […]
Akerson knows full well that the reason GM and Chrysler have paid off their government loans early is because fuel prices have declined, boosting the SUV market and their high per-vehicle profits. America’s low gas prices and high disposable income are why companies like Fiat are so desperate to enter the American market — because they make more money here on Jeep Grand Cherokees than on fuel-taxed, econobox Fiat 500s.
This kind of nonsense has earned Akerson scorn among auto insiders. “This is Dan Akerson live and in living color, folks,” writes veteran industry executive Peter De Lorenzo on his blog, “bringing his remarkable arrogance and nuanced cluelessness to bear on key product decisions that will affect GM’s competitive stance for years to come.”
